


and i know for me, it's always you

by goodgirlfaith



Series: mellivia marked soulmates au [1]
Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/F, marked soulmates au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-19
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 05:43:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2640230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodgirlfaith/pseuds/goodgirlfaith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>by the time her 17th birthday rolls around mellie has given up on the thought of it ever appearing so when she wakes up the day after her 17th birthday with a name on her wrist she almost can't believe it. </p>
<p>until she realizes what the name is. olivia pope is inscribed on the inside of her wrist in a beautiful black script.<br/>~<br/>mellie grant and olivia pope live in a world where some people have their soulmates written on their wrist; this is how they find each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and i know for me, it's always you

The first time Mellie notices the inscription on her grandmother's wrist, she's six and home sick from school. Her grandmother had come over to take care of her because her mother and father couldn't bare take the time off to do so. The inscription is clear, the black letters written in legible script on the inside of her grandmother's right wrist. 

“Grandma, what's that writing on the inside of your wrist?”

“That my love, is a soulmate mark. When you're 16, if you have the gene, the name of your soulmate will appear on your wrist just like mine,” her grandmother says holding her wrist up so Mellie can get a better look at it. 

Mellie ghosts her fingers over the inscription, clearly reading her grandfather's name written on her grandmother's wrist. 

“That's grandpa's name!” Mellie exclaims a big smile forming on her face. 

“Indeed it is, your grandfather and I are soulmates. My parents were, and so were there parents. But the gene has faded out over the years. Your grandfather was the only one of his siblings to have it, and neither your mother nor your aunts and uncles have it. But you might get it when you are older, it sometimes skips a generation,” her grandmother emphasizes by lightly poking Mellie's nose. 

Scrunching up her face, Mellie realizes she doesn't even really know what a soulmate is. 

“But, what is a soulmate?”

Picking up Mellie and placing her in her lap face forward, her arms wrapped around Mellie's smaller ones she grabs Mellie's hands and begins to explain. 

“A soulmate is the one person in the world that you are the most compatible with. You and that person are the best people for each other, you are each others other half. They compliment you and your personality in all the best ways. They're the one you're meant to spend your whole life with.”

“That sounds really nice,” Mellie says ghosting her fingers back and forth over the inscription on her grandmothers wrist secretly hoping for a name to appear on her wrist when she gets older. 

~

When Mellie's sixteenth birthday comes around she wakes up excited and quickly checks her wrist to see if anything had appeared overnight. Disappointed at the lack of the name she tells herself that maybe it'll appear in a couple days or a couple weeks, she still has plenty of time. 

By the time her 17th birthday rolls around Mellie has given up on the thought of it ever appearing so when she wakes up the day after her 17th birthday with a name on her wrist she almost can't believe it. 

Until she realizes what the name is. Olivia Pope is inscribed on the inside of her wrist in a beautiful black script. A girl's name. Her parents are going to kill her. They've already told her to push down “those feelings” and warned her if she tried to go public, they'd send her to a special camp for “girls like her.” 

And Mellie had decided that she could live keeping that side of her secret, she knew she was bisexual, so she might end up saving herself by falling in love with a man and be happy just the same. Wishing that she didn't have to resort to that, and that one day she could just be open about who she loved. But Mellie knew that as long as her parents were alive that wasn't going to happen.

Obviously, the universe had other plans for her.

Hearing her mother calling her down for breakfast, she quickly gets out of bed and runs over to her desk. Opening the top drawer she takes a thin black sharpie, and in her best attempt to match the script adds an R at the end of the name, changing it to Oliviar Pope. 

She hardly thinks her parents will notice even the changed name, but just to make sure she grabs a long pajama top from her closet and puts it on before she walks downstairs for breakfast. 

~  
Later that week, after her dad gets drunk Mellie goes into his office and takes $100 from his wallet. Putting the money in her bra she sneaks back up to her room, and after quietly closing the door, opens her sock drawer to hide the money until she can use it. 

The next day after school, Mellie drives to the mall a couple towns over, making sure there's the almost no chance of running into someone she knows. 

She quickly locates Macy's and goes to the watch counter. Spotting a rose gold one, with a thick enough band to cover Olivia's name she asks the man working behind the desk if she can try it on. 

She tries it on, making sure that the man can't see the words and after it settles perfectly on her wrist, she quickly takes it off and pulls down the sleeve of her sweater. 

“A perfect fit,” the man says taking the watch back. “Will you be buying it today?”

Rummaging through her purse, she grabs the cash and puts it on the counter, hands slightly shaking, “Yes, I'll take it.” 

“Okay, would you like it gift wrapped?” 

“No, just a regular bag will be fine.” Mellie says quickly as the man goes to get a bag to put it in. After handing her her receipt and the watch, the man gives her a look and then wishes her a good day as Mellie walks away from the counter. 

In the car before she drives back to her house, she rolls up the sleeve of her sweater and puts the watch on her wrist. 

“There. Now no one can see it.” Mellie states trying to reassure herself that this will work.

~

And it does work. Mellie makes it 15 years without anyone even seeing a glimpse of the name on her wrist, no one even has any idea that she has the soulmate mark and no one even asks.  
~

The first time someone other than herself sees it, it's the morning after her third date with Fitz. 

He hasn't asked about her watch, didn't say anything when they had sex the night before and kept it on during that and through the night. 

Mellie takes of the watch to shower, placing it carefully on the bathroom counter before she gets in. 

As Mellie is finishing up her shower Fitz walks in, still half asleep. 

“You could've woken me up and asked me to join,” he husks standing in the doorway, slightly leaning on the frame. 

Stepping out of the shower and putting on her towel Mellie chuckles and walks toward where Fitz is standing in the doorway. 

“While I would have loved that,” Mellie says as she grabs Fitz's hands, “I need to leave for work soon, and I can't spare much time.” 

“Okay, I understand,” Fitz says slightly pouting as he down at their hands together. He quickly looks back down at their entwined hands and moves a hand to turn Mellie's wrist over. 

Seeing the name on her wrist, Fitz's eyes grow wide.

Quickly pulling her arm out of his hands and putting it behind her back, Mellie stammers “It's not what you think.”

“So, it's not a soulmate mark. Because it sure looks like it.” 

Sighing deeply Mellie walks over to the vanity and sits on the bench and stares at her wrists. After composing herself, she looks up making sure she looks Fitz directly in the eye. She can't have their relationship tear apart because of this. 

“Yes, it is a soulmate mark. But I've never met anyone named Olivia Pope, let alone heard of anyone with that name. Not all soulmates are meant to end up together. I like us; we make great partners, please don't let this think that I'm not serious about this relationship. I'm in my 30s and I still haven't run into her. I don't think I'm ever gonna meet her, and I'm okay with that. It means nothing to me, it's just a random person's name on my wrist. You're the one I want to be with.”

And that's the end of it. Fitz doesn't ever ask her about the mark and they never bring it up again. She's pretty sure Fitz forgets it's there since he never brings it up again. And Mellie never even thinks about it, until one day when her husband is running for president and he tells her they've hired a new person to help with the campaign.

~ 

“Hi, I'm Olivia Pope. I'll be helping with your husbands campaign,” Olivia states, holding out her hand for Mellie to shake. 

And that's when Mellie stops breathing. Could it be her? The name on her wrist that had been there for over 20 years, her soulmate, the one person that was her other half. Was she really standing in front of her, acting very calm as if she doesn't have Mellie's name inscribed on her own wrist. 

Looking down at Olivia's out placed arm, Mellie notices that her arms and wrists are covered by a black woolen jacket, preventing Mellie from even attempting to see if her name is written on the younger woman's wrist. 

Pulling herself together she shakes Olivia's hand and tries to pay attention when her and Cyrus try and explain their new strategy for the campaign. But Mellie can't stop thinking about how her soulmate is standing in front of her, acting oblivious to who she is.

~

Later that night, when Fitz is in bed, she goes to the bathroom and quietly closes the door as she turns on the light. Sitting on the edge of the tub, Mellie takes off her watch and gently places it next to her. She turns her arm over so she can see the writing clearly. Olivia Pope is still there as clear as it was the day it appeared. 

Mellie's good at pretending, pretending is what's real. So that's just what she'll do. Pretend that Olivia Pope is just another campaign worker, and not the supposed love of her life. 

~

It's hard pretending Olivia is just another campaign worker when she starts to fall in love with her. Call it inevitability or fate or whatever, but even if Olivia's name wasn't on her wrist Mellie thinks she would've fallen in with her anyways. 

It's hard not to fall in love with Olivia Pope. She has a way of pulling people in that is unmatched by no one else. 

And while she thinks she's good at pretending, Olivia Pope is a master at it. She has to be, because why else would she still have not even the least bit of reaction when Mellie is around when Mellie is absolutely certain that even if she hasn't seen it, she knows her name is on Olivia's wrist. 

~

Two months after Olivia starts working with the campaign, her father decides to pay a visit. The Carlyle name is still very influential in North Carolina, and doing a pancake breakfast for the vets with him will help get tons of votes for Fitz. 

So when they first bring it up to Olivia and Cyrus in a meeting, and Olivia hears her maiden name for the first time Olivia's eyes go wide. Quickly composing herself, she turns to Mellie. 

“You're a Carlyle?” 

As she's reading over polling results in her lap, Mellie doesn't even think when she answers, “Yeah, born Melody Carlyle. But no one's called me that since I was a baby, I've always gone by Mellie.” 

Later that night, as Mellie is getting ready for bed it occurs to her for the first time that the name on Olivia's wrist is her name when she was born. Mellie feels like an idiot for thinking that Mellie Grant would appear on Olivia's wrist. 

~

After Fitz falls asleep, Mellie sneaks out of the hotel room and walks down the hallway to the room where Olivia is staying. Quietly knocking on the door, Olivia answers, still half asleep. 

With her eyes only barely open, she asks “Mellie, what's wrong? It's late, is there something you need?”

Walking past Olivia and into her room she sits down at the edge of the bed and takes a deep breath. Still confused as to what's going on, Olivia closes the door and walks across the room to stand in front of where the older woman is sitting on her bed. 

“Mellie, why did you come her-”

Interrupting her, slightly shaking, Mellie keeps her eyes on her hands as she speaks. “I just, I needed to see if you had it. I've spent my the majority of my life wondering, and I just have to see.”

“See what, Mellie? I have no idea what you're talking about.” Olivia brings her hands to her face, brushing her hair out of her eyes and behind her ears before asking again. “Mellie, what do you have to see.” 

Mellie doesn't answer, instead she grabs Olivia's room tight but not aggressive, and pushes up the sleeve of Olivia's pajamas and makes a noise that's a mix of a gasp and whimper as she sees her name on Olivia's wrist. Melody Carlyle is written in white, easily seen on Olivia's darker skin. 

Before Mellie can say anything, Olivia looks down at Mellie. “I thought it might be you when we first met, but when you mentioned your birth name today I knew it was true.” 

Olivia sits down next to Mellie and grabs Mellie's wrist and sees her name on Mellie's skin, and traces her finger over it a couple of times before saying, “I never actually thought I would meet you, I went so many years and then months passed and you were right in front of me and I was too stupid to realize it was you.” 

Finally looking up from her lap, Mellie places a hand on the side Olivia's face and says “I'm in love with you.” 

“I know. So am I,” Olivia replies moving her hand copying Mellie's motions and putting her hand on Mellie's face.

They spend the rest of the night talking, telling each other everything and anything while lying on the bed; arms and legs entwined together, foreheads touching.

When the sun starts to peek between the curtains of the room, they get up and before opening the door for Mellie to leave, Olivia kisses her and prays this isn't the only time she'll ever get to do this. They both know they can't have the relationship they were destined to have, despite how much they want it. So they'll just have to keep on with their lives and pretend their connection doesn't exist.

Pretending is what's real. So that's what they'll do.

**Author's Note:**

> title from "i know places" by taylor swift. 
> 
> thanks for reading! i hope you enjoyed.
> 
> i might write another connected oneshot, like this one except focusing on olivia. let me know if you'd be interested in reading that!


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